


Bubblegum Love

by Toothlesshoodie



Category: IT (2017), IT - Stephen King
Genre: Candy, Fluff, M/M, Suckers, eddie works in a candy shop, it's just short and sweet, richie uses suckers as a sub for cigarettes, short little candy shop au thingy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-27
Updated: 2019-05-27
Packaged: 2020-03-20 12:16:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,831
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18992482
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Toothlesshoodie/pseuds/Toothlesshoodie
Summary: Richie just needs a few suckers for the week, but life is a little unpredictable, isn't it?





	Bubblegum Love

Richie sucked a red sucker in his mouth. The mellow taste of artificial cherry flavoring coated his tongue. It reminded him of old days when he’d be sick with a cold and his mom was have to bribe him to take the disgusting cough syrup. But, after all, cherry was better than grape. Truth be told, Richie didn’t care for suckers at all. The way they made his lips chapped and mouth run dry wasn’t anything favorable for him, not to mention water didn’t taste too great afterward. It’s just that Richie had quit cigarettes and they sort of left him with this confusing oral fixation. So now he sucks in the sickly sweet cherry suckers, hoping one day he’ll leave this addiction behind. 

 

Saturday was a rough day for Richie. He ran out of suckers, which was something he was scolded for by his friend Bev, who made it clear that he needed to have them on hand at all times. No, running out of the disgusting sugar-on-sticks wasn’t too bad, it was the feeling of needing something all day and the scolding from Bev that made it miserable. He couldn’t break away from his shift at the diner, he knew he’d have to wait all day to get down to the gas station to pick up a bag for the next week. 

 

When his shift ended, he shot out of the diner so fast he almost forgot his backpack and tips. Unfortunately, he walked that day, and, even worse, the nearest gas station was two miles away. But, there was one thing that wasn’t two miles away.

 

“Welcome to Ben’s Candy Shoppe,” an unenthusiastic man called from behind a cash register, “tell me if you need anything.” 

 

Richie nodded his head, though he was certain this man didn’t see it, nor did he care that Richie acknowledged him at all. 

 

Richie directed himself to the nearest aisle out of sight from the man and started looking up and down the small rows for any sort of fruit flavored candy. Chocolate seemed to be this candy shop’s specialty, which didn’t exactly make sense since chocolate wasn’t candy. He walked down another aisle and found things like Jolly Ranchers, Warheads, Sour Patch Kids, but no suckers. He was beginning to wonder why a candy shop  _ wouldn’t have any fucking suckers! What kind of shit place is this?  _

 

He was almost ready to dip and suffer a two-mile walk down to the gas station, but then soft footsteps came up from behind him and in two seconds made him change his mind entirely. 

 

“Hi, can I help you?” A young man, Richie’s age, no doubt, asked. Richie turned around and felt his entire soul leave his body from pure shock about how incredibly attractive the man was in front of him.

 

“Oh wow…” Richie whispered, looking into the man’s soft, chocolate eyes. The man was… beyond words for Richie. He had soft brown hair, beautiful doe eyes, freckles painting his sun-kissed skin, shiny plump lips and to top it off he wore a yellow, red, and white striped shirt. In short, he was Richie’s fucking dream man. 

 

“Uh,” the boy coughed, “do you need help?” 

 

Richie snapped and shook his head as if to show it, “sorry! Uh, yes actually I do need help.”

 

The boy smiled and nodded his head, “well, I’m Eddie, what’re you looking for?” 

 

“Well, I kinda really need some suckers, but I can’t find any.” He pointed to the shelves of chocolate and tart treats. 

 

Eddie nodded his head and pointed to the end of the aisle, “actually we have suckers on the aisle next to us, guess you were in too much of a hurry to see?” 

 

Richie blushed, “well, sweets are my addiction. And, who’s to say me missing the suckers was a bad thing? I got a pretty cute knight in shining armor to save me.” 

 

_ Fuck fuck fuck! What was that!? Why would I- _

 

Eddie giggled, “guess I’m lucky that Stan didn’t come over instead.” 

 

Then Richie giggled, feeling his stomach do flips and his heart flutter. Richie hadn’t really been in the dating game for a while, after he quit cigarettes he decided he would focus on himself. He was going to build a better Richie. Now, he may be addicted to sugar on a stick, but he thinks he’s done an amazing job that was definitely good enough for him to work his Tozier charm once again. 

 

“I think I’m the lucky one,” Richie said quietly, but not so Eddie couldn’t hear. “Walk me to the suckers?” He felt overjoyed when Eddie gave him a shy nod. 

 

It wasn’t a long walk, obviously, but Richie felt himself glow with excitement. He couldn’t help but feel like hot shit, I mean, the guy had the most beautiful man he’s ever met walking right beside him. At the same time though, he was intrigued by Eddie, even if they’ve had a pretty basic conversation. 

 

When they reached the suckers, Richie felt his mouth water and the need to have something in his mouth overwhelm him. What threw him off was the number of flavors presented to him, definitely far off from his basic cough syrup cherry. 

 

“Wider selection than you thought?” Eddie asked with a smile. 

 

“Mhm,” Richie nodded, “I usually just take a cherry one and call it a day.” 

 

Eddie made a fake gagging noise and shook his head in disgust, “cherry is probably the worst! Taste like kid’s medicine, grape isn’t that far off either.”

 

Richie couldn’t help but let out a bark of a laugh, “you raise a good point, Spaghetti.” 

 

“They taste as bad as that nickname, what the hell was that?” 

 

Richie let out a loud cackle that echoed throughout the mostly empty store, “just a cute nickname for a cute guy! Don’t like it?” 

 

Eddie made another  fake gagging sound and shook his head, “it’s horrendous,”  he complained, but the beaming smile on his face said otherwise. 

 

“Whatever you say, Eds. I guess I’ll take a handful of these babies here!” He went to grab at the cherry flavored suckers to the right, but Eddie’s hand shot out and directed Richie to the pink ones right next to them. 

 

“Buy bubblegum, it’s easily the best flavor.” Eddie’s face was tinted pink as he started to realize what he just did and how his hand was still on Richie’s, but he definitely wasn’t gonna let it show. 

 

Richie blushed and took a handful of about sixteen, after all, he needs a lot to keep him going throughout the week. “Thanks for the advice, Eds.” 

 

“Anytime,” Eddie squeaked. 

 

They stood in silence for a few seconds before Richie nodded his head over to the cash registers. “Any chance you’ll check me out of this place?” 

 

“Unfortunately, no, but I’ll see you around…” he trailed off and furrowed his eyebrows in the most adorable way possible, “uh, I didn’t get your name.” 

 

“Oh! It’s Richie! Well, it’s Richard but that’s so grossly formal, so, y’know, call me Richie.” He was rambling, he knew that but Eddie’s smile and bright eyes made him nervous. 

 

“Well, Richie, I’ll see you around.” 

 

Richie never felt to pained to watch someone walk away. So, as he walked away after paying $0.50 for sixteen suckers, he swore he’d show back up and ask the boy out. Nobody was going to stop him either. 

 

That was six weeks ago. Every day since then, Richie walked in, talked and poorly flirted with Eddie, then he bought a single bubblegum sucker and then walked out telling himself that he would ask Eddie out the next day. Now, to Richie’s credit, he was actually learning a lot about the smaller man every single day. He found out that he grew up in a small town not too far from Richie’s own, he had no mom but he lived with a wonderful dad that he adored, he was the same age as Richie, and he was gay. That last one made things at least ten times easier for Richie. In return, Richie liked to think that Eddie knew quite a bit about him too. He talked about his parents who worried about him, but he loved them dearly, his struggle to quit cigarettes, his not so glamorous job at a small diner, and that he was bisexual. Meanless to say, Richie felt like he opened up more to Eddie than he had anyone in his whole life and it was only in six short weeks. 

Today, Richie once again swore he would ask Eddie out. He would! He just needed the right moment that’s all. He walked into the store and looked over to Stan and smiled. Stan had yet to say more than a few words to him, but he constantly gives Richie this  _ dude are you serious  _ look after Richie sees Eddie. After saying hi to Stan, he turns to the sucker aisle. Sometimes Eddie is down that aisle, other times Richie picks up his sucker and goes on a little hunt for the boy he likes so much. Eddie isn’t down the aisle today, so Richie figures he’d grab his bubblegum sucker and leave, but there wasn’t any. The only suckers left were cherry and grape, the flavors Richie grew to find disgusting thanks to various conversations with Eddie. 

 

Richie was just about to turn around and find Eddie but he didn’t need to look far. Eddie was standing right behind him in casual clothes, ones that Richie almost full on swooned over, and he held two handfuls of bubblegum suckers. He had a warm blush spread across his cheeks and a nervous smile that Richie believed to be the cutest thing. 

 

“Um,” Eddie squeaked out, “you’re gonna think this is stupid…”

 

“No no!” Richie cried out, “please continue.” 

 

Eddie snorted and walked closer to him, “well, I have no script planned out but I was really hoping you’d go out with me tonight…” 

 

Now it was Richie’s turn to blush from head to toe. 

 

“It’s just that… We talk every day and I liked you since the day I met you, I’ve been kind of beating myself up over not asking you out sooner, ha. So… What do you say?” 

 

Richie looked at him completely dumbfounded, yeah, he really liked Eddie but he definitely didn’t expect Eddie to like him back! That stuff only exists in the movies, yet here it is happening to little ol’ Richie Tozier. 

 

Maybe he shouldn’t have been silent for too long though, “unless you don’t like me back! Oh god did I misread everything-” 

 

“Oh fuck no!” Richie cried out, “I’ve been trying to ask you out for… literally a month, I really fucking like you!” 

 

Eddie smiled at him and let out a loud sigh of relief, “so, are you free tonight?” 

 

Richie smiled and plucked a sucker from Eddie’s hands, “for you, Eds, I’m always free. 


End file.
